Divided crank-shaft for bicycles, &amp;c.



No. 647,499. Patented Apr. l7, I900.

- n. M. KEATING.

m DIVIDED CRANK SHAFT FOR BICYCLES, 8L0.

(Application filed Sept. 9, 1896.)

Sqz.

(No Model.)

II NIIIIIIIII MTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT M. KEATING, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

DIVIDED CRANK-SHAFT FOR BICYCLES, 800.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 647,499, dated April 1'7, 1900.

Application filed September 9, 1896. Serial No. 605,314. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ROBERT M. KEATING, a citizen of the United States of America, residing in Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts,have invented new and useful Improvements in Divided Crank-Shafts for Bicycles and other Like Vehicles, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanyin g drawings and letters of reference marked thereon.

In the drawings like letters of reference indicate like parts.

Figures 1, 2, and 3 are end and side views, respectively, of the cone-provided shell or sleeve. Fig. at is a transverse sectional view of said sleeve or shell. Fig. 5 is a side view of one shaft-section. Fig. 6 is a side view of the other shaft-section. Fig. 7 is a sectional View of the hanger or bracket with the several parts in position,the shaft-section being shown in full lines; and Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the shaft-section having a recess in its end for the reception of the end portion of the other shaft.

In detail, a indicates the bracket; 19, the cone-provided shell or sleeve; 0, male shaftsection; (1, female shaft section; c and f, cones upon the sleeveb; g and h, cone-rings mounted in the ends of the bracket; 2', wedgeshaped part upon the end of the shaft-section c; j and 7c, crank-arms, and Z balls.

The construction and operation of my device are as follows: The bracket a is provided at each end with conerings g and h. The sleeve or shell I). is provided with the conebearings e and fand is interiorly threaded, as shown in Fig. i, with right and left hand threads m and n, and the portion of the sleeve 19 at the left, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, is pro jected a sufficient distance to pass through the cone-ring g, so that it may be engaged by a wrench. The shaft-section c is exteriorly threaded, as shown at 0 in Fig. 5, to engage the thread at in the sleeve, and the end portion is provided with an interlocking part 2'.

The shaft-section (1 (comprising, as shown in Fig. 8, an outer part d and inner part d) is recessed in its end portion to receive the end portion of the shaft-section c, and the end portion of the shaft-section d is exteriorly threaded, as shown at p, to engage the thread on upon the interior of the sleeve 1).

A circular plate 1' is mounted upon the shaftsection d, to which plate the sprocket-wheel is secured.

The most convenient manner of constructing the female shaft-section d is to construct it in two parts, as shown in Fig. 8, the central part being of the same diameter as the male shaftsection c and being formed at its end to interlock with it and being provided with a threadt and a tubular part having an opening to just receive the shaft sections and maintain them in perfect alinement and provided at its end portion with an interior thread to engage the thread i. When completed, the two parts may be permanently secured together, and in thesnbsequent attaching or detaching of the shaft-sections it the interlocking parts of the shaft-sections to prevent rotation of one without the other is immaterial and that these shapes may be altered as desired.

To separate and detach the shaft-sections,

a wrench is placed upon the flattened or sition in the bracket, and in order to detach the shell or sleeve 1) from the bracket either one of the cone-rings g or h is removed from the bracket, thus allowing the removal of the sleeve or shell and the balls. To reassemble, of course the reverse method of procedure is followed.

It will readily be seen that in order to relieve the parts from undue lateral strain it is advisable that the shaft-section d should fit aocurately in the opening provided for it in the sleeve or shell I) and that the entering portion of the shaft-section a should fit accurately within the opening provided forit in the shaftsection (Z.

Having therefore described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of a bracket having cone-rings mounted therein, a shell b provided with cones at the end portions thereof to form runways for balls between the cones on the shell and the cone-rings in the bracket, said shell I) being interiorly threaded adjacent to one end thereof .in opposite directions, the opening in the shell being of less diameter at the end Where threaded than the remainder, a shaft-section 0 having an exterior thread to fit the thread at-the end of the opening in the shell I), and a shaft-section 01 having an exterior thread at its end to fit the interior thread adjacent to the end thread in the shell, the

body of theshaft-section 01 being constructed to fit the unthreaded opening inthe shell, the two shaft-sections being shaped to interlock at their ends and the body of the section 0 back of the interlocking part being arranged to enter an opening to receive it in the opposite shaft-section, substantially as shown.

2. The combination,of a bracket,cone-rings mounted therein, cones suitably mounted and arranged to register with the bracket-cones, balls therebetween, two shaft-sections arranged to interlock and prevent rotation of one Without the other; means to unite said sections, one shaft-section being formed of two parts, an inner part 01' and an exterior part (1 fixed upon the inner part and projecting from the end to receive the body of the opposite section, substantially as shown.

I ROBERT M. KEATING.

Vitnesses:

ALLEN \VEBSTER, E. C. STIOKNEY. 

